Well, our first speaker in this
place needs no introduction. John Chapman was our first pastor
here. And this congregation, in human
language, cannot express our love and our gratitude for John
Chapman. Humanly speaking, this place
wouldn't be here if it weren't for John. So we owe him a constant,
eternal debt of gratitude. I just can't say enough about
him. Just what a wonderful friend, pastor and preacher that he is.
And we've looked very forward to his visit. John is now the
pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Spring Lake, North Carolina.
John, I know you feel right at home until you come preach to
us. Turn to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. I'm sure if
you look closely enough, you can probably see my heart about
to beat out of my chest. Like one of those cartoons. It's good to see you. It's good
to see you. Years ago, when I first started
going to the preacher school, I would drive home often in tears,
thinking, why, what am I doing? I thought, what am I doing? Why
would I think God called me to preach? And I would be determined
I was not going to go back the next week. And the next week
rolled around and I went back. Forty years has gone by, and
I still think, Why would I think God has called me to pray? Driving
up here from North Carolina, I'm thinking, why? What are you
thinking? But here I am. Here I am. And here I am by the grace of
God. And one of the things that just thrills my heart, and I
believe I said that the last time I was here, is that nearly
40 years have gone by and we're still here. We still believe
the gospel. That's a miracle. That is a work
of the grace of God that we still believe the gospel and we still
preach the gospel. It hasn't changed. The gospel
hasn't changed. Aren't you glad of that? I don't
look for a new message. I don't look for what I'm going
to preach. I just look from where in the scriptures the Lord would
have me to preach Christ and Him crucified. Now in Hebrews chapter 2, I'm
going to look at these first four verses. Neglect not the things which
you have heard. And after this is over with Sunday,
after the last speaker has preached, neglect not what you heard these
few days. Don't let them slip away. Don't listen to the gospel casually. Careless listening is what happens. Letting it slip away comes from
careless listening. Not giving heed. Not laying on
what you have heard great importance. In fact, it's more important
to you than anything in this life. what you're about to hear
this weekend. Now chapter 2 starts out with
looking back to chapter 1. Considering what glorious things
have been said and established concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the final spokesman. He's
it. He's it. He's the brightness
of His Father's glory and our Father. and our Father. He's the express image of God.
He's all of God you and I are ever going to see. Even in eternity,
we are ever going to learn of God through Jesus Christ. We're
going to learn of God through Him. We're going to know God
through Him throughout eternity. He's the one who purged us from
our sins. Oh, that's more... The closer
I get to the grave, the more that means something. You know,
I realize I'm 62 years closer to it than I was when I started.
And this is more precious. This is more precious. As I get
older, I cannot express to you the urgency
I feel in preaching. The urgency of the people I preach
to you right now. To listen. To listen to God's
Word. to weigh it out, to be like the
Bereans and search the Scriptures, see if those things are really
so. And don't say in your heart, well, I've heard that before,
I've heard that many a time. Maybe you have, maybe you haven't.
Maybe you have, maybe you haven't. But back in chapter 1, we also
saw that He has sat down. That means He got the job done.
When He said it's finished, He meant it's finished. And he sat down on the majesty.
I love that. I love the way that sounds. The
majesty. On high. He's so much better
than the angels. There's no comparison because
he's the angel's creator. He's the angel's God. It says
in verse 1, let all the angels of God worship him. Now God would
not have said that if he were not God. That would be idolatry. It would be idolatry to worship
Jesus Christ if he's not God. But if he's God, then it's only
right to worship him. It's only right. He has obtained a more excellent
name because of who he is. He's the creator of all things.
And this is the one that never changes. Don't you love that? We live in a changing world.
We are changing. My soul, I look at the gray hair.
That wasn't there 40 years ago. But our Lord, years had not wrinkled
His brow. It had no effect on Him. He's the eternal God. Now, He
says, therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed, that
is, hold to Hold to the things which we've heard. Don't let
them slip. Don't let them go. Lest at any
time we should let them slip. Someone said this, I was reading
this the other day. The more a man thinks on what
he hears, the more he will understand. And the less he thinks on what
he hears, the less he will understand. Often, David said, I meditate.
I meditate on Thy Word. Get alone to yourself and think
upon God. Think upon His Word. Think upon
what you've heard. Our Lord said this in Luke 8.
Take heed, have ye heard. With what measure you meet it
with, it shall be measured to you again. Now what have we heard? We have heard the truth. You
know how rare that is? You know how rare it is to have
the truth spoken to you? Not many have heard it. We've
heard the truth. And we've heard the truth from
God in the person of his son. The scripture says that the law
was given by Moses, grace and truth. came by Jesus Christ. You know grace and truth has
a name? And the name is Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. We have
heard the truth about God, about Jesus Christ, and we've heard
the truth about ourselves. No matter how offensive it is,
tell me the truth. Please, tell me the truth. Yet we heard the truth, we were
living a lie. Our thoughts of God were wrong. Whatever they were, they were
wrong. In fact, God says in Psalm 50, 21, you thought I was altogether
like yourselves. And how wrong was that? You thought
I was not just a little bit, not kind of like you, but altogether
like yourselves. Until we heard the truth, our
thoughts of God were wrong. We've heard God speak, not an
angel or just a mere man. God has spoken now. God has spoken. In the person of His Son, God
has spoken. God came into the world. Now
this is just amazing to me. that the creator of heaven and
earth, the one who said, let there be light, and the one who...
You go to Genesis 1. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. This same God came into this
world, in the flesh, and preached the gospel to us. Preached the gospel to us sinners.
You see the Lord in the Sermon on the Mount, sitting there.
preaching to His disciples and that multitude. That's God sitting
there. That's God Almighty. When you
say, He has seen me, He's seen the Father. It amazes me when
I read the Scripture and the Lord takes that child and sets
it on His lap. And I think, God Almighty reaches
over and takes a child and dandles that little child on His knee.
That's God! That's who that is. That's God. Now here's another reason to
give earnest heed to hold to this now. It's a subject matter
of it. It's so great a salvation. It's
just not a great salvation. He says it's so great. It's so great a salvation. It
has to do with how God can have anything to do with me and be
God. That's what Job realized at the
end of his trial. By the hearing of the ear I have
heard of thee, but now mine eye seeth thee, and I abhor myself
in sackcloth and ashes. How can this God have anything
to do with me? How can this God, how can God
Almighty, who is of pure eyes and to behold who will by no
means clear the guilty. How can He have anything to do
with me? How a wretch like me can stand
in His presence accepted. Accepted. Oh, here's another
reason to give the more earnest heed to the things which you've
heard. What we have heard is the gospel of His glory. Don't get taken up with creation. It's the handiwork of God. Get taken up with Jesus Christ. Get taken up with Him. The scripture teaches us, Paul
says this to the Philippians, set your heart, your mind on
things above, where our Lord sits at God's right hand. Not
on the things of this earth. I promise you, whatever you set
your heart on, on this earth, you're going to be disappointed.
And eventually your heart's going to be broken, if that's where
it's set. But if it's set on things above, even though the
Lord may break my heart, I can let it go. I can let it go, because
I have the one, I have the one thing needful. The Lord Jesus
Christ. Lest at any time, he says here,
give them more earnest heed, lest at any time, any time, any
time, we should let them slip. There's a real danger here, or
the Holy Spirit would not have moved the writer to write this. And the word slip means to let
it drift away, to slide away smoothly. You know it takes effort to follow
the Lord Jesus Christ. It does. Strive to enter in. Labor to rest. What a paradox. Labor to rest. With much tribulation
shall ye enter the kingdom of heaven. With much tribulation. But it takes no effort to drift. Some years ago I went on a float
trip And down the Elk River, some
of us guys, some of us men got together and went on a float
trip. A seven-mile float trip. That was the easiest float. We
just floated. That's just it. We just drifted.
We drifted downstream for seven miles. It takes no effort to drift.
It takes effort to follow. It takes effort to follow. And it says here, lest at any
time There's never a time when we
can let down and coast on in. There's never a time, there's
never an age that you and I will ever reach where we can say, make it, make it. Let him that thinketh that he
standeth take heed lest he fall. Paul said that he never counted
himself to have arrived. Listen to this scripture. In
Philippians 3, 9-14. Not as though I had already attained,
either were already perfect, but I follow after. Paul followed
hard after the Lord Jesus Christ. If that I may apprehend that
for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I
count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do. forgetting
those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before. I press, I press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Oh, that I might know Him. You cannot exhaust the wisdom
of God. And Jesus Christ is the wisdom
of God. There's never a time when we
can say we know all of Him we need to know or that I can know.
No. You know, after reading the Scriptures
all these years, I look into the Scriptures and I think, I
never saw that before. How did I miss that? How did
I miss that? It's been there all the time. We started going back through
the book of Genesis and it's almost like reading that book new again. Paul did not doubt his salvation
in Christ. I'm not saying that, I'm not
promoting that. But he never took it for granted.
It's too serious a matter. Life, death, eternity is too
serious a matter to take for granted. I want to know Christ. I would love to know Christ so
well in this life. Then when I see Him, there's
no surprises. There'll be no surprises. He's
just like I read. Just like I read about Him. He's
just like His Word. No surprises. We ought to do
that. We ought to be so obsessed with
knowing the Lord Jesus Christ that we study Him, follow hard
after Him, that when we see Him, we are not surprised. Oh, speaks of redeeming the time.
I think you wrote an article on that here not too long ago
I read it. Redeeming the time. Oh, I got time. That's one thing
you don't have. God's got time. Our times are
what? In His hands, not your hands.
Today, now is the day of salvation. Today's the day of salvation.
Now's the accepted time. You don't have tomorrow. I have
it right now. Right now. Right now. That's
it. I don't have tomorrow. Now if God has purposed me to
be around tomorrow, I'll be here. But I'm not going to bank on
that. I'm not going to bank on that. Note the seriousness of it here.
With the word spoken by angels was steadfast in every transgression. Not just the big ones. Not just
the big ones. Every transgression. If a man went out on a Saturday
and picked up sticks, what do you think we ought to do to him?
Back under the law. What do you think we ought to
do to him? How stiff a penalty should we pass on him? God said kill him. God said kill him. Overnumbered.
God said kill him. Every transgression and disobedience
received a just payment, recompense of reward. The law was given
on Mount Sinai through the mediation of angels to Moses. And under
the law, every transgression received a just recompense. It
was steadfast. It was firmly fixed in place.
It was unchangeable. Unchangeable. When someone broke the law, they
received a just punishment, a just recompense. Now this being so, and it is, how much more dreadful
punishment shall he be thought worthy of who neglects the gospel,
who neglects the gospel which was spoken by the Lord himself. Look over in Matthew chapter
11. Matthew chapter 11, look in verse
20. Then began he to upbraid the
cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they
repented not. He said, Woe unto thee, Chorazin!
Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, They would
have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. You know, first time
I read that, I thought, well, Lord, why didn't you do that? Because he's sovereign. He saves
whom he will and he passes by whom he will. And you'll never
worship God until you find that out. But I say to you, it shall be
more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for
you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt
be brought down to hell. And if the mighty works which
have been done in thee have been done in Sodom, it would have
remained unto this day." He said, if I went there and done what
I did here, it would still be here today. But he said to them,
but I'm here today. And you're ignoring what you're
seeing. You're ignoring what you're hearing. But I say to you that it shall
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, the homosexuals, in the day of
judgment than for you." What a statement. What a statement. Here's a sobering question in
verse 3. How shall we escape? If we neglect, if we let this
just slip on by, so great a salvation. Escape what? The condemning power of sin,
God's wrath against sin, neglecting the light, How should we escape? If we neglect,
if we let this slip on by, I'll tell you this, you won't. You
won't. I won't. If I neglect this, let
this slip on by and it means nothing, I'll be like that one in the
parable of the sower, where the word was sown and the riches
of this world, cares of this world, choked the word and became
unfruitful. Oh, how shall we escape? Brethren,
God's still God. God still punishes sin. The gospel
didn't make him softer, easier. He's still God. He's still a
consuming fire outside of Jesus Christ. Outside of Christ, he's
still a consuming fire. In Christ, he's a God of salvation. And what does it mean to neglect?
And I'll try to wind this down. It means unattended
to through carelessness. Carelessness. And it happens so easily. It
can happen sitting right here under the gospel, week after
week after week. It happens through careless listening. Earnest attention is hard to
give on a regular basis. I mean, when you and I sit there,
our minds wander, don't they? You can read the scriptures and
you go through three chapters and you think, what did I just
read? And you have to rest your attention
and go back and reread it. Pay attention. I say it to myself. I say it to myself. I don't say
it out loud. I say to myself, John, pay attention. Pay attention
to what you're reading. Give attention to it. Now, if I want to read a book,
How to Win Friends and Influence People, if I forget what I've
read for three chapters, that doesn't matter. We can't read
this book like that. You cannot read the Word of God
carelessly. There are so many things that
take our attention. So many things. Scripture says
where your heart is, your treasure is. If our heart is on the Lord
Jesus Christ, he's our treasure. It says here, to give the earnest
heed to so great a salvation. Salvation is from God, it's the
gift of God, it is very real. How real is salvation to you?
How real is Jesus Christ to you? It is a salvation from the guilt
of sin. Now if you've ever known what
guilt is, then you can appreciate salvation. If you really don't
know what guilt is, you can't appreciate salvation. You won't
appreciate salvation. It's salvation from the guilt
of sin, the reigning power of sin, and the wrath of God against
sin. It's acceptance with God. It's
a complete salvation. Brethren, we have a complete
Savior. Let me find something here. Look in verse 10 of chapter
2. just like our Father, for whom
are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many
sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect,
complete. Our Savior is complete in every
way. He's a complete high priest,
He's a complete sacrifice, He's a complete King, He's complete,
and He's our Savior. There's nothing lacking in Jesus
Christ That's going to come up short and you and I will not
be saved. He's complete. To make the captain of their
salvation complete, he suffers. He's a complete sacrifice. We
need no other. We need no other. And it's so great a salvation
because the Lord himself clothed himself in flesh and came into
this world and spoke it to us. Spoke it to us. Come unto me,
all you that labor in heavy labor, and I'll give you rest. He said
that. I'm just repeating. He said that.
I didn't say it. I didn't write it. He moved the
apostle to write. Well, he said that in the gospels.
He said that himself in the gospel. Come unto me, all you that labor
and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. You think he will? You believe
he will? If you believe he will, you'll come. I guarantee you,
you'll come if you believe he will. If you really doubt it,
you won't do it. You won't do it. Not until he came and preached
the gospel did the mystery that had been hid from ages begin
to be revealed and cleared up. Brethren, I understand and many of you
understand how God saves sinners through this man, the God-man,
God in the flesh. That's how God saves sinners.
Substitution. Christ being made sin. Christ
being made what I am. and I might be made what He is,
righteous. Not only did He preach the gospel,
but He sent men out and He confirmed their message with signs and
wonders. Signs and wonders. This is the
gospel. God has spoken to us and He has sent men out to preach
the gospel and He's confirmed their message. You know on Mount
Sinai there was lightning and thunder And that would have been impressive. But you know what's more impressive? When God says, Lazarus, come
out of that grave. That's more impressive. Those miracles are
more impressive than the lightning and the thunder. Raising the
dead, the blind see. He said, you tell John, the blind
see, the deaf hear. Oh, those miracles now, those
are the ones Spiritually, I want to see. Spiritually now, I don't
talk about physically. Spiritually, that's what I want
to experience. Lord, give me sight. Give me
life. Give me hearing. Let me hear.
Arrest my attention when I hear today. Arrest my attention. Speak,
Lord. Speak. Brethren, we have a great
Savior. Boy, He deserves great preaching. It's sad. I think when I think
of who the Lord is, I think how sad our preaching is in comparison
to who He is. We have a great Savior, a great
salvation. Don't let it drift by you this
weekend. Don't listen carelessly.